UPDATE: French media report that Elor Azarya is a dual French-Israeli citizen. Interesting to note that Gilad Shalit is as well.

Yesterday two Palestinian youths attempted to stab an IDF soldier (this account is in Hebrew with some English added) in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. The soldier was lightly wounded and treated at the scene. The two Palestinians were each wounded, one mortally. They both lay on the ground, without moving. Both were unarmed. The Palestinian who’d been wounded, Abd al-Fatah a-Sharif, lay on the ground near a group of settlers and soldiers. One of the settlers said to the soldiers: “This asshole here is still breathing.”

It goes without saying that a security gag order prohibits Israeli media from reporting the identities of the killer and his commander, which I will do below. I could not have reported this story or learned much of this information without the invaluable aid of many Israelis, who may not be named in order to protect them from the ravages of the national security state.

Still image of the moment of execution which show the murderer in the middle of the picture. He stands just behind his commanding officer (speaking on the phone). A bystander to the left covers his ears as the killer shoots at the wounded Palestinian, in the lower left of the picture.

An IDF soldier who was a medic in the unit and who had treated the wounded soldier, asked permission from his commanding officer to “finish off” the wounded Palestinian. Apparently the commander approved. The soldier walked to within six feet of the wounded Palestinian cocked his rifle and shot him. This practice is often called ‘confirming the kill’ in the IDF. Palestinian girls as young as 12 years-old have been executed in this fashion before. Last week, Bassam Massalha, after being wounded, was executed as video filmed his murder. In one of the earliest of such incidents in Jerusalem in 2002, the police commander, Mickey Levy, ordered one of his officers to execute a Palestinian, who had been captured and disarmed before he could detonate his suicide vest.

Images of the execution of Mahmoud Saleh, ordered by the amnesiac, Mickey Levy. You can see that when Salah is murdered he has no suicide vest. He is naked except for his underwear. There is no bomb. The next picture shows his dead body.

Mickey Levy is now a deputy minister and key member of the center-right Yesh Atid party. An Israeli security institute hosted a screening of the film, Wounded Land, about a meeting between a suicide bomber and the families of his victims at the hospital where both were brought after the attack. Levy appears to have forgotten his sordid past when he told the film audience this entirely mendacious version of the Jerusalem attack in which ordered a summary execution:

“Every time I hear that a terrorist has been “neutralized” I laugh. Because you can neutralize the danger, but never the terrorist. When there is intent to injure and the danger is imminent, you certainly may shoot to kill. But once the danger is past, the situation changes.”

Levy then raises this same 2002 incident. But he makes dramatic changes in the actual story which flatter him and deface the truth. He says that when he arrived on the scene there was a terrorist who had a suicide vest still strapped to his body with the button to activate it visible. But he was in handcuffs and on his knees and a soldier stood over his body. No suicide bomber would ever be in handcuffs while still strapped to his vest. The Palestinian attempted to roll onto his belly in order to activate the bomb. Levy supposedly then asked the sapper whether he could disable the bomb. His officer told him he couldn’t because the terrorist was moving. He then ordered another soldier to kill the terrorist with two bullets to the head.

These pictures of the same incident should refresh Levy and expose the lies he told his all to gullible audience. They show the alleged attacker arrested with no suicide vest in sight. There are policemen milling about and no one appears threatened by the possibility of a bomb exploding.

Many Palestinians are similarly executed by Israeli security forces, but few in as blatant a situation is these in broad daylight and on camera.

Back in Hebron, when the shooter returned to his commanding officer, he went through the formal rituals of confirming the use of his weapon and that was the end of it, they expected. Instead, a Palestinian activist had videotaped the entire incident. He gave the video to the Israeli human rights NGO, B’Tselem, which subsequently circulated the video far and wide, after submitting it to the military censor. (If anyone has access to the uncensored version, please be in touch.) It’s been reported by media outlets around the world, including the BBC and many others.

In this image, the murderer is treating the lightly wounded Israeli soldier. The killer’s name, Azarya, is written on his gunstrap. His commander, Lt. Col. David Shapira, stands next to him in a black helmet.

The IDF, as a result of the bad publicity, arrested the soldier. Lt Col Peter Lerner confirmed that the soldier killed the Palestinian, and that his commanding officer apparently approved the killing. However, there is no word that the commanding officer himself has been arrested or detained.

Astonishingly, the IDF has all of a sudden developed a moral conscience, decrying the soldier’s act. Claims gave been made that he shot the victim on his own initiative. If you didn’t know better you’d think this sort of thing had never happened in the IDF before.

Israeli Jews are in an uproar over the incident, not because they decry it, but because they consider Azarya a hero. Indeed, there is a separate video shot just after Azarya murders a-Sharif in which Kahanist former MK Baruch Marzel walks up to the killer and proudly shakes his hand.

Beit Shemesh municipality honors IDF killer, Elor Azarya

The City of Beit Shemesh is organizing an official municipal protest in defense of Azarya. A post to this effect graces the city website. It features his picture and full name, in direct violation of security gag orders. The text reads: “Beit Shemesh demonstrates support for the freeing of the Hero of Israel, IDF soldier Elor Azarya.” Since the announcement remains accessible at the site, clearly the security forces and IDF have refused to enforce the gag in this case, while the media still honors it. A most peculiar situation.

It should be noted that Beit Shemesh is the home of one of Israel’s noted Islamopobe bloggers, David Lange; and also the home of the Jewish Taliban, a sect which forces its women to wear Jewish versions of chadors. It’s also the city where Haredi men stoned an Orthodox woman whose clothing was deemed insufficiently modest and heckled a 12 year old schoolgirl for a similar offense. A city of true brotherly love!

There are cries against the IDF leadership for making the shooter a sacrificial lamb. On the popular London & Kirschenbaum Channel 10 TV show, a Makor Rishon (Sheldon Adelson’s pro-settler paper) reporter said the shooting wasn’t murder because a-Sharif “wasn’t a human being.” He went further to say that it couldn’t even be considered “killing.” Apparently, it’s somewhere along the lines of killing a fly. The journalist did concede however, that the worst it could be considered was “improper conduct.” This has to be the final nail in the coffin of Zion as a “Light unto the Nations.”

Further, one of the Magen David Adom ambulance drivers at the scene of the attack, Elimelech Karzen, whose crew refused treatment to both Palestinian attackers, justified his actions by claiming that on Purim (the incident happened that day) 75,000 Jews were slated for execution by “terrorists.” Therefore, “Jewish ethics” prohibit him from aiding any Palestinian terrorist who would take a Jewish life. What sort of religious ‘ethics’ approves allowing another human being to die? Is this a religion or a cult of hate?

Yesterday, I spent a great deal of time posting to Facebook and Twitter asking Israelis if they could help me identify the killer. Luckily, the Israeli far-right gossip forum, Rotter, has identified him along with pictures. He is Sgt. El-Or Azarya, a resident of the poor Israeli town of Ramleh, near Tel Aviv.

Images from Azarya’s Facebook page. On the upper right is a unit certificate of merit for being the unit’s top soldier

Other activists in Israel have helped further identifying him, finding Facebook accounts and photographs which document him before the execution. He is a devoted follower of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club. The most hardcore racist Beitar fans have formed a gangland-style fan club called La Famigilia. He’s also written “Kahane was right!” on his Facebook page.

Among the pages he’s Liked on Facebook are the far-right Kahanist, Baruch Marzel; the racist rapper, The Shadow, who advocated burning Palestinians alive on his Facebook page; the La Famiglia page; Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked; and Avigdor Lieberman.

It is highly unlikely that justice will be done in this incident. Normally, the IDF claims to investigate such incidents, does so, finds insufficient evidence to prosecute, and closes the case.

Azarya holding high Beitar Jerusalem fan scarf

Such a thing is about to happen in the case of a Black Hebrew IDF soldier, Toveet Radcliffe, who either committed suicide or was murdered at an Israeli Air Force base, two years ago. On March 27th, the Black Hebrew community in Dimona expects the IDF will close the case without either investigating it fully or charging anyone. As a result the community which suspect that she was murdered by someone unknown, will not get Justice. This is the way things go in the Israeli National Security State. To sign a petition asking Pres. Obama to intervene in this case, visit Change.org.

Lt. Col. David Shapira, commander of the Shimshon Battalion

We have identified Azarya’s commanding officers. They are Lt. Col. David Shapira of the Shimshon Battalion and his boss, Col. Yariv Ben Ezra of the Yehuda Division. Shapira appears to be the officer who approved the murder.

I’ve compared the picture above which shows Azarya’s commander standing next to the shooter. Compare him in that picture to the one of Lt. Col. David Shapira, and I believe they are the same man.

Shapira himself has executed Palestinians. In 2008, Shapira murdered a wounded terrorist who’d attacked the Rav Kook Yeshiva. He’d heard the shooting from his Jerusalem home and rushed to the building with his personal firearm. He ignored orders by the police, who told him not to enter. An armed yeshiva student had already shot the attacker twice in the head. The media accounts say Shapira encountered the wounded gunman on the premises and “confirmed that he was dead.” That sounds an awful lot like “confirming the kill” to me. Shapira was proclaimed a hero.

Shapira lives in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. Ironically, it used to have a Palestinian name: Deir Yassin.

Yesterday, Azarya showed that he learned the lessons well that Shapira taught him. In fact, I can imagine Shapira rewarding Azaryah with an opportunity to make his first “kill” after a-Sharif was wounded on the ground.

The shooter later told investigators that he shot a-Sharif because he was “moving,” and was afraid he would detonate a suicide vest. The victim is seen clearly on the video and he has no suicide vest. Nor does his Shapira seem to sense danger as he stands near the wounded man speaking on the telephone.

Let no one think of this is a one-off aberration. Palestinians are executed in the same fashion virtually every day. Nor are these summary executions a product of Israeli policy over the past few months alone. Such murders go all the way back to the 2002 incident I described above. The murderers are rewarded for their callousness as Levy has been, by being a respected member of the Knesset.

Some of the killings are videotaped and some aren’t. The ones that are not videotaped escape the world’s notice, except in the Palestinian community. The ones that are videotaped elicit a small measure of attention in Israel and no attention outside. The lives that are so snuffed out aren’t worth much either to the world media or to Israelis. But once in a while, if circumstances are right, when there’s a videotape that captures all the bloody action in broad daylight, then the world takes notice.

I am publishing as much about this case as I can in order to expose not just this single murder, but all of the brutal illegal violence perpetrated by Israeli Security Forces against Palestinians.

“The soldier told military police during questioning over the weekend that he fired at Sharif because he thought he might be carrying a bomb. However, the military is treating his version with skepticism. Had he believed that the assailant was armed with an explosive device, he would have been expected to clear the scene. Furthermore, the gunfire could have set the bomb off.
In fact, the IDF’s preliminary probe into the incident found that one of the commanders on the scene had searched the subdued assailants to make sure they were not carrying explosives.”

@Bernie X: So you’re saying that the attacker’s dress code is what got him killed? If he’d worn shorts he’d have lived??? Let’s be sure to send a bulletin to all future Palestinian attackers noting this.

BTW, there hasn’t been an Palestinian attacker using a suicide vest in years. But nice try.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Alex K

“Let’s be sure to send a bulletin to all future Palestinian attackers noting this.”

Key words: Palestinian attackers.
Why you’d expect anything less than death for those who choose to stab or explode random civilians is beyond me. In my country, we call those people ‘indiscriminate murderers’.
How can you possibly be trying to defend the rights of “future Palestinian attackers”? They renounce their rights when they decide to become serial killers.

While I (like the Israeli government) cannot condone that the soldier in question disregarded IDF military regulations, the monster he killed deserves NO protection whatsoever.

Before you comment on Israel killing civilians, like I know you will, Israel does not do that. Israel kills people who have decided to try to kill them with weapons (like these recent knife and car terrorists). Those are not civilians, they are militants. Israel kills those who have used or let their homes be used as rocket launch sites (this voids their civilian status and makes them military targets). Also worthy of note is that Israel actually WARNS the latter of strikes before they happen, and they still choose not to help themselves. Israel is a lot more humane than the average country in dealing with blatant and constant attacks on it.

@ Alex K: No, actually Israeli soldiers renounce their rights when they enforce an illegal apartheid regime on Palestine. Then their lives and security are hefker, subject to resistance by Palestinians. No nation whose land has been stolen and invaded by a foreign power is under any obligaton to bow down & lick the boots of the Occupier. So I’m afraid you will continue to suffer such attacks and deserve them until you renounce your false claims to Palestine.

Azarya didn’t “disregard IDF regulatons.” He upheld them. There is shoot to kill orders in place and scores of unarmed, wounded Palestinians have been murdered in the past 6 months. Not to mention that his commanding officer approved the murder. Clearly, you have not read my blog post. Do NOT comment here before reading the post you’re allegedly commenting on.

Israel kills civilians regularly. Even Israel admits that 60 Palestinians killed in this Intifada were not attackers and were innocent civilians. SO there goes that argument out the window!

Please stop regurgitating hasbara memes about warning civilians before attacking them. All these memes are old, false and have been disproven here & elsewhere. Do NOT advance arguments which have been refuged here multiple times. There is only so long I can stand reading this swill before my eyes glaze over.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

kelly

[Comment deleted: you think you’re going to rant about Hitler and mental illness & be published here???!! Think again.]

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Deïr Yassin

BS ! You can clearly see that he is wearing nothing, and if you look at these images as well as the others filmed from another angle (where you can see the other presumed attacker lying on the ground next to the ambulance killed by a bullet to his head too), explain to us how come soldiers as well as various settlers pass by close to him without any fear ?? If they think he wore a suicide belt.

To me what’s even more important in theses images than the killing itself: to see how the soldiers and the settlers just continue their daily business without even paying attention to the wounded lying on the ground, even after he’s executed, nobody cares. This is a sign of total dehumanization. And we’ve so may footages showing the same situation over and over again.
Not to speak about the fact that according to international law, a wounded should be treated, and we see more than one ambulance, but nobody simply cares about him.
This young man attacked a soldier of an army of occupation, Jean Moulin did so in France during WW2, and he’s considered a national hero. To me this young Palestinian is exactly the same, trying to defend his homeland from vicious settler thugs and a fascist genocidal army protectinh them.

And on a sidenote: Btselem has closed the comment section to this video now but I responded to some comments there yesterday. I’m worried to see how mostly Western antisemites use such video footage to dump their shit about “Jews”, and to see how many likes they get. The State of Israel and it’s disgusting behaviour is just “blessed bread” for such thugs, I really read things that I would have preferred not to read.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Bernie X

@Deir

” Jean Moulin did so in France during WW2, and he’s considered a national hero ”

Did Moulin knife to death or run over civilians? Most of these latest Jewish victims have been unarmed civilians.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Deïr Yassin

I spoke specifically about this young man who was executed by a bullet to his head (so was the other presumed attacker by the way), You couldn’t miss that when you copied my sentence. Here’s what I wrote: “This young man attacked a soldier of an army of occupation, Jean Moulin did so in France during WW2, and he’s considered a national hero”.
It even seems that only his friend had a knife, but anyway. We all understand that you simply don’t care. But many in the rest of the world do, I’ve seen these images published and commented on MSM websites, and even the usual hasbaristas have a hard time defending it.
PS. And why don’t you stick to one pen name ?

@ Bernie: OMG, four Israeli soldiers out of over 200 dead were IDF! How many Palestinian civilians complete uninvolved in militancy have been killed in this Intifada? 20 times as many as IDF soldiers died. Are you shedding any crocodile tears for them?? Nah.

For your information, the French Resistance did kill civilians, esp. those accused of collaborating with the Nazis.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

ash

Not sure where this ‘religion’ thing fits in – there is clearly no God anywhere near Israel.
Zionism is a hateful ideology, from 19th century. Using Judaism to justify the massacre of Palestinians is a slap in the face to all anti-Zionist Jews.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Kyle Renner

@Freak:

Your Kahanist hero deserves a bullet in the head. Actually, Palestinians ought to start doing this every time the army of occupation extra judicially executes someone.

Eye for an eye, right? Maybe they’ll stop and think once IDF personnel end up getting head-shot after being incapacitated.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Moshe

Its funny how in your attempt to bash anything and anybody israeli, you forget that these arabs were trying to kill soldiers. Your so self righteous. ” those evil israeli murderers” lol. When someone tries to kill people, i have a real lack of sympathy for what happens to them..
For you, im sure your eyes lit up when you saw this story. You live for this stuff, anything to bash israel

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Elisabeth

They were indeed trying to kill soldiers. Soldiers of an occupying army.
What kind of resistance would you approve of?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Elisabeth

In the Netherlands the resistance also attacked German soldiers. As reprisal, in one case, the male population of 16 and older of an entire village was deported to concentration camps, and the farms burnt down (‘house demolition’). Very few survived. A brother of my grandmother was one of the deportees.
In the German controlled newspapers of that time, such attacks on solders were termed ‘terrorism’.

As Deir Yassin said, the perspective in Europe on such actions of the resistanceis is, in general, to see them as heroic (although also criticized for being ineffective and causing harm to the local population).

Israel does not go to these lengths yet, but is nevertheless treating such actions as if they were unprovoked terrorist attacks, deserving a totally brutal response. This is because Israeli’s suffer from the delusion that there is no occupation or oppression, and that they are morally lily-white. It is as if the whole country is detached from reality.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Jack Cohen

Did the terrorist in Merkaz Harav Kook also try to kill soldiers?
He attacked and killed students in a Yeshiva within Israel 1948 recognized borders.

@”Kack: Er, not quite. Rav Kook’s theology served as the inspiration for the settler movement & perfectly epitomizes Jewish exceptionalism. Where do the settler officers come from who execute this philosophy in the Territories on a day to day basis? Merkaz Harav of course.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Jack Cohen

Did you just justify that attack???

Ever heard of “ba’Asher Hu Sham”. Even G-D (supposely) don’t charge one for his future but about current behavior.

@ Jack Cohen: I’ll tell you what: I’ll denounce attacks against Israeli soldiers when you announce that you support a shared Jerusalem, return to 67 borders, & Right of Return. Till then, Palestinians have the right to resist a foreign army of Occupation that enslaves them.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Jack Cohen

You justified an attack against Yeshiva students as well b/c they may or may not harm Palestinians in the future.

How is that any different than Uri Elitzur and the snakes article? Let me guess, b/c you are right and he is wrong!

@ Jack COhen: that is a lie. I never justified killing yeshiva students. You are already moderated. Your next lie will get you booted.

But Torat Hamelech does justify killing Palestinian babies because they will grow up to kill Jews. You must’ve gotten me mixed up with the Yizhar rebbe??!!*!👿

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

shollyD

Dear Moshe,
Your comment is most timely. Tomorrow, Easter Sunday in the Christian world, there will be a HUGE celebration in Dublin, Ireland, of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1916, an armed rebellion which started the armed struggle against British rule in Ireland. This of course involved “killing soldiers”.
The people and government of Ireland will quite rightly honour and celebrate the men and women who rose up against the occupying power and who, through their sacrifices, made possible not alone Irish freedom but showed the way to other occupied countries.
No wonder Ireland is the most pro-Palestinian country of Europe. We know what a brutal military occupation is like.
I wonder whether the Israeli ambassador will be present at the celebration of “terrorists”. If so he should have a rather red face.

@ Moshe: How many soldiers have been killed in these attacks? Very few. How severely was the soldier wounded in this attack? Not very.

But the main point which you typically miss is that your nation’s refusal to address legitimate Palestinian grievance is what induces this violence. As long as you refuse to deal, they will try to kill you.

As for the rest of your comment, it’s pure trash and lies. You don’t have a clue what my feelings for Israel are.

“When someone tries to kill people, i have a real lack of sympathy for what happens to them..”

Thank you for that bit of confession. I suspect that “lack of sympathy” is code for general hatred of those who are the victims of Israel.

There has been some moral posturing by the IDF on this occasion (I understand that the soldier concerned was arrested) that I fear was triggered off by the fact that this video went viral on the internet. MK “Tamar Zandberg, praised the organization B’Tselem for distributing the video.“Without B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence we would have never known or seen,” Zandberg wrote on Twitter”

But the Jerusalem Post reported that the army, according to its own version of this all, had already showed its concern before the video went on the internet. Funny that the army personnel in the video showed an absolute indifference. A dog hit by a car would have elicited more concern. Nevertheless “hypocrisy is the homage vice pass to virtue”. Better that forced homage than none at all.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

“that vice PAYS to virtue”

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yonatan

What on earth is a Lt. Colonel doing on a street patrol? Is the IDF do top heavy that there is no room at HQ for all the senior officers?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

PhilCrowe

Very informative post. Interesting how some commenters find the publishing of facts to be “anti-Israel”. If you knew you were in the right you’d be happy to happy to have facts disseminated surely?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

I know you won’t care hearing this from me, but let me say unequivocally that the soldier should be tried and if convicted, punished to the fullest extent of the law. This is unacceptable, period.

But 2 questions:

1. Where do you get your information that he received the OK from his commander? Every report that I have seen indicated that he acted on his own. If he got such an order, that would be very grave.
2. As for other incidents, we don’t know what we don’t know, however the Palestinians have been caught lying about this. For example, in the incident involving the 2 boys who stabbed the 13 year old on a bicycle, Abbas publicly claimed that we executed the attackers. The videos clearly showed this was not the case. Only when confronted with the incontrovertible evidence did the Palestinians backtrack and claim he was “shot in cold blood”, which was not true either.http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.680612

@ Yehuda: Absolutely untrue. I value when Israelis concede errors and sins in the ways of their security forces. But I don’t understand why you don’t concede that these crimes are routine & even SOP.

As I’ve already said in this thread. A subordinate doesn’t take a gun and shoot someone standing 3 ft from his commanding officer who, btw, is standing talking on the phone & doesn’t flinch or protest. That simply doesn’t happen unless the commander has approved. What subordinate in his right mind would do such a thing, defying his commander only feet away from him? Unless he wanted to end up in prison. It’s a shame if there’s any punishment (there likely won’t be) Azarya will be the only one punished.

Palestinians don’t have to “lie” [sic] about this (& I reject your characterization of the previous incidents). THere’s a video documenting the entire execution. All of your previous incidents of purported lying are irrelevant in this case.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

@Richard –“All of your previous incidents of purported lying are irrelevant in this case.”

What do you mean? It is you who asserted that Palestinians are being executed “every day”. With Israel you conclude they’re lying and covering up, because of supposed documented past cases, while regarding Palestinians, previous misrepresentations are “irrelevant”? Basically your claiming that only Palestinian testimony is acceptable.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

bobyleff

Interesting that the soldier’s sister tries to come up with an explanation.

“An IDF soldier who was a medic in the unit and who had treated the wounded soldier, asked permission from his commanding officer to “finish off” the wounded Palestinian. Apparently the commander approved”

What do you base this on?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Oren

On what can actually be seen in the video?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Jack Cohen

“An armed yeshiva student had already shot the attacker twice in the head. The media accounts say Shapira encountered the wounded gunman on the premises and “confirmed that he was dead.” That sounds an awful lot like “confirming the kill” to me. Shapira was proclaimed a hero.”

???
The article you link says he killed the terrorist in a face to face battle. How did you come up with terrorist being already wounded?

@”Jack:” Read the Wikipedia article. Dadon was first to encounter him & put 2 bullets in his head. Ergo, he was dying when Shapira “confirmed the kill.”

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Moshe

Richarrd, my views on your feelings for israel come from the fact you find every which way to find evrything that is wrong with israel, while at the same time barely mentioning the other side. I dont know how else to see your views. Ive never seen you write anything positive about israel. How am i mistaken as to your obvious vendetta?

I dont have the exact number, but i think there has been between 20-40 israelis killed in the last six months by these various attacks. Dont try to brush them off as harmless things

@ Moshe: The key statement is “I’ve never seen.” Of course you haven’t, because you haven’t looked. But I’ve written many posts commenting favorably on aspects of Israeli music, arts, culture. My Twitter & FB accounts also add even more context.

But it’s not my job to say “positive” things about Israel. Does the lead reporter for your daily newspaper (if you read one) havve a responsibility to write about cheerful subjects every day? How boring. Would you prefer Chekhov’s plays be rewritten to be cheerful? Or how about rewrite Shakespeare’s tragedies so they all have happy endings? 1 in 10 of those killed in the current Intifada are Israelis. Do you weep for the other 9? Of course you don’t.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Moshe

Richard, you are an intelligent man so lets not pretend you dont have an obvious vendetta here. You love to call anyone who defends israel a “hasbarist” ( a term i learned from your site), and much like people who defend israel have a bias, people who ONLY Write articles finding the fault in everuthing israel have an obvious bias

You throw out numbers like 1 in 10 killed in this most revent intifada are arabs, as if seeing lopsided numbers ignores the reality of what is going on. It isnt jews in the streets tryimg to stab random people who then get killed

You can say whatever you want but as someone who served in the idf, there was so much focus on doing the right thing, on not firing blatantly, and proper protocol. I know what i was taught from my commanders and the emphasis on human life.

Now, im not an idiot and i would never say individuals dong do bad things. Maybe this soldier just decided to kill the terrrorist who no longer was a threat. That should be pursued with the proper means, but maybe ur article should be about the two terrorist who tried to kill israelis. When have i seen any in depth article about jews who were killed from you? Maybe i should look in the archives? Maybe there was a long article about dafne meir killed in her home in front of her daughter?

Lets just not forget this terrorist wasnt an innoncent bystander, he was trying to kill people.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

elisabeth

What kind of resistance would you approve of?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

Moshe said: “Richarrd .. you find every which way to find evrything that is wrong with israel, while at the same time barely mentioning the other side” Talking of “two sides” as if these were somehow morally equivalent is the misleading trope with which most of the mainstream media have muddied their reporting on Israel’s depredations – if they weren’t outright pro-Israel which has been more generally the case. I am glad that shollyD brought up the Irish Easter uprising. The occupation of Ireland by the British provides perhaps the most brutal example of British colonialism. In many ways it is comparable to the Israeli occupation though the latter has not lasted as long yet (and heaven forbid it will). I am sure that the British papers of the time also talked about “terrorism”. And so indeed did part of the British influenced Irish Press (particularly the Irish Times which was baying for the “rebels’” blood) The New York Times played apparently the same dubious role it does now as far as the Israeli occupation is concerned: “On 29 April, a characteristically sensationalist and pro-British New York Times editorial mocked what it believed was an ingrained Irish passion for freedom. ‘What these present rebels want is not to be free of England. They pursue an ideal of freedom. England is the symbol of restraint. If it were not England, it might be a King. If it were not a King, it might be fairies that go about in Ireland, assuming fantastic shapes, to frighten people and make them do all the things they do not want to do.’” When it is crystal clear who is the oppressor and who are the oppressed, talking about “two sides” is ridiculous. And as to your complaint about Richard never saying anything positive about Israel:… Read more »

@ Arie: Thank you. In addition, if you care about a country that is doing wrong, singing its praises and shouting hosannas is an obscenity. I want Israel to be a better country. Why not point out its flaws so that someone, someday will work to correct them?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

That is laudable, but I’m not sure many of the anti-Zionist crowd here share that sentiment. I’ll let them speak for themselves, but from the nature of some the comments, it would seem that the very existence of Israel is not legitimate. In addition to my previous condemnation of the execution, I would add that * The Palestinians do have a “right” to resist the Israelis; attacking military targets (soldiers) is not “terrorism”; however, whether this is wise, or whether it should be violent, or whether 15 year-old civilians should be doing it, is another matter. *Soldiers or police, notwithstanding that they may be part of a military occupation, also have a right to defend themselves. Saying that they should simply allow themselves to be stabbed, and if they use lethal force to prevent that then they’re criminals, well that, is loony and ridiculous. Nowhere are security forces held to such a standard. *@Arie– where in divine law is it written that the stronger side in an ethnic conflict (and that is what the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is) is always the oppressor and therefore always wrong? To deny that there are 2 sides to this conflict, and that BOTH sides have committed wrongdoings and mistakes, is moral blindness and ignoring the 100 year history of the struggle. I understand the tendency to attribute the stronger side with more responsibility, given an assumption that it has a greater ability to end the conflict. But as I have stated elsewhere, this is not true here. Israel alone cannot end the conflict (other than by unilaterally disappearing)., @Richard– before you tell me to “move on”, please note that I am responding to Arie’s editorializing and quotations of opinions. If you feel that this is a rule violation, it should be for both of us….

@ Yehuda: I too agree that if a soldier or anyone is stabbed they have a right to defend themselves. That includes disabling the attacker. But it doesn’t include executing him. Further, it is unconscionable that Israel’ emergency medical services refuse to treat Palestinian attackers. THis in effect lets them die whether they’re executed by a bullet to the brain or not.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yeah, Right

RS: ” I too agree that if a soldier or anyone is stabbed they have a right to defend themselves. That includes disabling the attacker. But it doesn’t include executing him. ”

Richard is correct. Israel itself insists that this is an “armed conflict”, albeit not an armed conflict against another state (i.e. an armed conflict not of “an international character”).

But the rules of armed conflict that pertain to conflicts “not of an international character” is crystal-clear on this point: armed combatants are fair game until such time as they become “hors de combat”, at which point shooting that person dead becomes murder.

Abd al-Fatah a-Sharif attacked an IDF soldier with a knife, and that soldier had every right to defend himself against that attack.

But once Abd al-Fatah a-Sharif was shot and lay on the ground he was, indisputably, “hors de combat” and, therefore, Richard is quite correct to state from that point on pumping a bullet into his skull becomes nothing more nor less than an execution.

None at all, most likely. The Palestinians are , I think, literally the only people in the world who’ve been demonized relentlessly for doing what any other group of people in their position would do.

The solution, I think, is simply to disregard the whining rambling and absurd statements coming from those who think that Palestinians had to “share” over half the land with people who weren’t entitled to even a tenth of it; people who accuse the Palestinians of being “the ones who’re the real genocidal threat” in the face of the historic Israeli Jewish ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

Perhaps Richard should be lauded for his indefeatability as well but I meant indefatigability.

shooting an unlawful combatant (e.g. a combatant masquerading as a civilian and using this guise to approach troops and attack them) who has been shot but is still moving and ***HAS NOT SURRENDERED*** is not murder.

Such an unlawful combatant could pose a danger to paramedics – e.g. by choking them with his bare hands as they attempt to treat him.

If the unlawful combatant surrendered – it would be an altogether different matter. Also if he was unconscious it would be a different matter.

Should a paramedic risk his life to treat an enemy who has not surrendered?

@ lepxii: a-Sharif was not an unlawful combatant. He had no connection to any terror group or even political party. He wasn’t sent by anyone. He wasn’t taking orders from anyone. HE was a civilian who took a knife and engaged in a political act of resistance against an illegal military occupier. Certainly is murder.

But I have an idea. Let’s have you agree to do a test case. Let’s send Shapira and Ben Ezra to the Hague and have the ICC judge. Then we can test whether they find it to be murder. If Israel wins the case & it’s not murder then I’ll stop claiming it is. Deal? I didn’t think so. That’s coz you’re a flaming hypocrite. You claim it’s not murder but won’t actually let your claim be tested the only place it can be.

When the IDF closes this case (& it will) and when Israeli NGOs ask the Supreme Court to take it up and they refuse (& they will), then the ICC is the only venue left to adjudicate this crime.

“Not surrendered?” When he’s shot, unarmed, and barely moving? That’s “not surrendered?” This is starting to annoy me. You’re wasting everyone’s time with this nonsense. If your hasbara can’t even register on the scale of credibility time to give up & move on.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Kyle Renner

“shooting an unlawful combatant (e.g. a combatant masquerading as a civilian and using this guise to approach troops and attack them) who has been shot but is still moving and ***HAS NOT SURRENDERED*** is not murder.” What piss. Far all anyone knows, he’s a civilian who got so fed up that he took up arms against the army of occupation. He looks like a civilian because he IS a civilian. There’s no “conspiracy” here. The IDF just does wonders when it comes to making every Palestinian under the occupation hate them, is all. And no, murder is murder. Shooting an incapacitated , wounded person in the head casually is murder. We can always flip the parties around and see what you think. Palestinian policeman shoots a wounded “settler” in the head after the “settler” ran at them with a knife because “dirty Arabs can’t live on Jewish land”. ” Such an unlawful combatant could pose a danger to paramedics – e.g. by choking them with his bare hands as they attempt to treat him.” Bollocks. Shameless attempt to justify the kahanist coward shooting someone in the head, IDF medics generally don’t treat wounded Palestinians anyways. I’ve read a number of accounts as to how they just let them lie there and bleed, because they “deserve to die”. ” If the unlawful combatant surrendered – it would be an altogether different matter. Also if he was unconscious it would be a different matter.” Nope. Extra-judicial executions or murders are the same regardless of what state the executed person is in. ” Should a paramedic risk his life to treat an enemy who has not surrendered?” The IDF shouldn’t even be there in the first place. Grubby little Kahanists shouldn’t even be there in the first place. Hopefully the “paramedic” does encounter… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Elisabeth

Israeli’s can refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories. If soldiers decide to serve there, that has consequences. One of them is that they become targets. I know that they are under enorm pressure to serve, but they are not innocent kids who wandered into the wrong place by accident.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

Yehuda said:

.” I understand the tendency to attribute the stronger side with more responsibility, given an assumption that it has a greater ability to end the conflict. But as I have stated elsewhere, this is not true here. Israel alone cannot end the conflict (other than by unilaterally disappearing).,”

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of this do you or don’t you agree that It is up to Israel to remove the stumbling block to further negotiations viz. stopping the expansion of settlements? And is it not the case that this is not because of the Palestinians but because of its own political inability or lack of political will to deal with the settlers? Don’t blame the Palestinians for Israel’s inability to deal with the monster it has spawned in the settler movement.

I understand that at what can be called the Annapolis conference the Palestinians came up with a map which showed the possibility of 60 % of the settlers remaining on 2 % of the West Bank. Tzipi Livni, who was then Israel’s foreign minister did not say that the map was unreasonable – she said it was not politically feasible, meaning that no Israeli government would survive if it agreed to that. The same held for Olmert’s proposal to divide Jerusalem.

But now we are already in the nitty gritty whereas I would like to have your answer to my questions.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

@Arie– I will continue to respond as long as Richard allows us to continue civil discussion. I did not vote for Bibi or the right wing parties, and I would personally be in favor of a settlement freeze, at least a temporary one, to see if it is possible to restart serious negotiations. I would do this to show that we are serious in trying to reach a peace agreement. Building only shows that we aren’t serious. However, recall that a freeze was tried in 2009, and Abbas stalled until the freeze expired. So I remain skeptical of a positive outcome, but I would still try. Indeed you are correct that the political constellation that Netanyahu has assembled would make such a move difficult. But Abbas too is under political constraints that prevent him from making “good will gestures” if you can call them that. What could Abbas do? Unconditionally condemn the violence and stop calling the attackers “heros”. Say that under a potential agreement the Palestinians would be willing to recognize a Jewish state. Stop telling the millions of refugees that they will return to former Palestine. Etc. These would be very unpopular moves in the current climate. So all he can do is make demands for gestures from us and offer nothing As far as Tzippi Livni, Olmert, or Barak’s offers– indeed any one of them would be politically problematic, although I believe that reconciliation can have a dynamic of its own. If an Israeli leader were to present such a serious proposal to the public, together with Palestinian concessions and a credible readiness for true peace– public pressure would support such a move, and if Bibi refused, he would be replaced with somebody who would agree. Again, this is probably not in the offing in the near… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

elisabeth

What kind of resistance would you approve of?

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Eyal w

Hey there.
I’m not going to argue about any of the story’s details. I do not know them any better than you do. the one things that I do wish to call off as a blatant lie is this:
“It goes without saying that a security gag order prohibits Israeli media from reporting this story”…. “protect them from the ravages of the national security state.”
It seems you are very dedicated to portraying Israel as something that is just isn’t.
There is no security gag order.
This is the top news story, in every single news source in israel, since the moment it happened.
The soldier has been accused in murder charges – not by you, but by the IDF itself.

I’m not claiming Israel is a perfect country. I agree that this murder was most probably supported by the sayings of israeli right-wing politicians. but This is not north korea, or jordan, or saudi arabia, or egypt, or iran. I feel that I can confidently say that, after 5 years as a soldier and commander in the IDF and another five working for various human-rights NGOs within Israel.

I find it sad that people such as you convince others that this is a simple good-guys bad-guys situation. I wish the problem was that simple.

@ Eyal w: Wrong buddy. There is a gag order. I appear to know more than you about this story, contrary to what you claim.

You have not seen David Shapira’s name reported as the commanding officer on the scene at the time. Unless you and the rest of Israeli media don’t think it was pertinent that a Lt. Col. was on the scene and approved the execution. I know the media in the rest of the world would be going like gangbusters to report this.

I’m not claiming Israel is a perfect country…but

The hasbarists are always first to concede “Israel isn’t a perfect country, I agree with you.” But then comes “but…”

Quel surprise that an IDF commander doesn’t see that his country is barely better than some of the worst oppressive regimes in the world.

Frankly, I don’t believe you worked for any human rights NGO. Tell us the name of one of them. Otherwise I don’t believe you. But it does seem you’re picking up some income in your spare time by working for an official hasbara apparatus. I guess the human rights NGOs couldn’t pay your salary but the MFA can??

I never said it was “good guys vs bad guys.” Palestinians do terrible things as well and I report them here. But Israel for many reasons, is far worse.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

But you haven’t really answered my questions about the first move to set things going again: settlement freeze. This is up to Israel. You talk about a settlement freeze in 2009. I don’t think there was one. Netanyahu promised “restraint” but said that “natural growth” of Jewish outposts would continue. A slippery formula that can cover almost anything. Also, it was then clear that East Jerusalem would be excluded from negotiations – another obstacle thrown up by Israel.

You mention so casually that one thing Abbas could do is telling his countrymen that Israel should be recognised as a “Jewish state”. This Israeli demand only emerged around 2010 from Netanyahu’s bag of tricks and was never an official Israeli condition before. It has been seen widely as yet another manoeuvre for Netanyahu to avoid negotiations which he doesn’t really want. And it is an impossible demand. What is Abbas going to do? Declaring that 20 percent of the Israeli population doesn’t really belong there, thus helping to set the stage for its ultimate expulsion?

You talked about the private feelings of you and your friends. But the issue was the official Israeli position and whether or not this dominant party has greater power and responsibility to bring peace forward. You haven’t convinced me that that is not the case.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

Read this for a narrative of what happened. There was nearly a total freeze. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_peace_talks Let’s say we agree that Israel should freeze building. But say they don’t. Why do the Palestinians refuse to negotiate? Why is a Palestinian precondition assumed and upheld? You say the Israel demand for recognizing a Jewish State was only raised in 2010. But it was never a precondition to entering negotiations, only a goal for an outcome– like getting a Palestinian state. A bargaining chip. Also, the Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze also was never a precondition for talks before 2009 either. So why isn’t Abbas accused of putting up barriers to resuming negotiations? To a great extent, settlement and settlement building is an outcome of the conflict as much as it is a cause– if the parties came to agreement about borders Israel would have not even want to build in areas that it is going to hand over. What is cause and effect here? This is not abstract philosophy. You have to look at the repeated and failed attempts at arriving at a agreement in the past 20 years. There were just too many obstacles, and continued settlement building was the least of them. So, lacking peace, Israel just kept building, under left and right governments. The Palestinians themselves, because of their own internal divisions and contradictions, are still unable to give up on the conflict. Example: Gaza. Abbas knows that if he were to make the required concessions, he would be thrown out of power, or worse. So in Netanyahu’s calculus, the political price he would pay for a freeze simply isn’t worth it, because he believes that the Palestinians are not ready to give up their conflict with us no matter what he offers. But Israel has shown that… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

@Yehuda You rely on Wikipedia to claim that there was a settlement freeze. I would rather rely on what Max Blumenthal told us: From Max Blumenthal “The settlement freeze that never was, and never will be” “During the week of June 21, I traveled through the West Bank with Swedish photojournalist Linda Forsell to document new settlement construction and the settlers’ theft of water from Palestinian towns. Forsell took a series of photos at Har Homa, a massive Israeli settlement towering over the Palestinian town of Beit Sarhour. Her photos show ongoing construction of hundreds of new settlement units — documents of the settlement freeze sham. Netanyahu authorized the building of new settlement units just days after he announced the freeze in November 2009. He attempted to disguise new settlement construction by drawing a false distinction between the West Bank and “parts of Jerusalem” like Har Homa that actually lie outside 1967 lines …” You wrote: “Let’s say we agree that Israel should freeze building. But say they don’t. Why do the Palestinians refuse to negotiate? Why is a Palestinian precondition assumed and upheld?” But isn’t that obvious? The Palestinians can hardly negotiate when the very object of negotiation is stolen from under them – when those notorious “facts on the ground” are being created that make a two state solution increasingly less possible. You make it appear as if Israel has been trying very hard over the last twenty years to reach a peace agreement. The fact is that Israel has had fourteen years to react to the Arab peace plan of 2002 (since renewed) that is mainly a restatement of UNSC Resolution 242. The Palestinian Authority has fully embraced it and there appears to be widespread support for it on the Palestinian side. “The Arab Peace Plan has… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

bobyleff

Arie, I suppose you live in Israel/or Europe? I fully agree with the points you make. I am so sad to read every week about new infringements on Palestinian “Lebensraum” including water resources, olive trees, etc,etc.
On the other hand, as a German I desparately want to see the survivors, their children and grandchildren, and..ggchhildren to live in peace.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Elisabeth

Bobyleff,
Thank you for your comment. This is what it is really about (quoted from Uri Avnery):

“Since 1967, Israel has faced a simple but fateful choice: Give up the occupied Palestinian territories and make peace with Palestine and the entire Arab and Muslim world – or cling to the territories, build settlements and go on with an endless war.
This is not a political opinion. It is a historical fact.
Any true friend of Israel will do everything possible to push Israel in the first direction. Every dollar, every ounce of political influence, should be used for this purpose. In the end, the two states – Israel and Palestine – will live side by side, perhaps in some kind of confederation.
An anti-Semite pushes Israel in the other direction. Within the next 100 years Israel would turn into a bigoted, nationalist, even fascist, isolated apartheid state with a growing Arab majority, and the entire country would eventually become an Arab state with a shrinking Jewish minority.
Everything else is a pipedream.
SO WHAT is AIPAC doing?
In his monumental work “Faust”, Goethe describes the devil, Mephisto, as a force that always wills the bad and always achieves the good. AIPAC is the exact opposite.
It supports the existence of a “Jewish State” but pushes it forcefully along the road to another of the huge disasters in Jewish history.”

Thank You, Elisabeth, for the link.
I have always admired Uri (and of course we have something in common – mother tongue).
For him the past decades must have made life and thought increasingly difficult.
Many years ago I saw an Israeli film ” Because of this war” which showed briefly
Jeshajahu Leibowitz – I never forgot!

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Morley

1. If you don’t want to do the time, don’t do the crime
2. Where are all the videos shot by “activists” and passed on to B’Tselem, of knifers lunging their knives into Israeli’s, eh? Why aren’t they showing us THAT?
3. They’re only showing us one side of the story, obviously: the retribution, after the crime is committed
4. If the world was able to view these knifings, the world would be more forgiving of the punishment meted out
5. And did I say, “If you don’t want to do the time, don’t do the crime”????

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

You should tell that murderous soldier that, if indeed he has to do time for what he did (which I seriously doubt). Legally speaking he (and perhaps his commanding officer) was the only one committing a crime there. Get it into your head that resistance against an occupying force is not a crime.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Elisabeth

And being executed is of course not ‘doing time’!

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

@Arie– Sorry about the delay in response.
Whatever Ariel Sharon’s reported intentions and motives were, surely you would not argue that Gaza would be better for the Palestinians if the Israelis would be occupying it! They withdrew every single soldier and settler for god’s sake! Now you’re blaming Israel for that? As far as Israel’s blockade, don’t confuse the chicken and the egg. There would be no blockade if Hamas was not constantly trying to import war materials to make rockets to fire at Israeli cities.

If you recall, Sharon’s successor, Olmert had a follow up plan (some say it was also Sharon’s plan) to withdraw unilaterally from the West Bank as well. His election campaign openly advertised this plan (‘Hitcansut’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realignment_plan) and he was elected by a healthy majority with this platform.
That plan was scuttled with the fallout after the 2006 Lebanon War and Olmert’s subsequent political problems. The empowered Hamas in Gaza and subsequent wars there made arguing for a unilateral withdrawal elsewhere not credible.

So, I repeat, Israelis are willing to support a withdrawal, given the right leadership and circumstances. Just Netanyahu is not one of these leaders. A settlement freeze is child’s play compared to withdrawal.

Only a committed outside power willing and able to force BOTH sides into an agreement can change the status quo. Pressuring Israel alone will not work and have an opposite effect.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

Yehuda I am getting a bit tired of this. If I want to check on right wing opinion in Israel I might as well read the Jerusalem Post. On the matter of Gaza’s blockade you are not just arguing against me but against broad international opinion that it is mainly meant as collective punishment, in the first place for the fact that the Gazans had the temerity to come up with a majority vote for Hamas. Israel’s security needs are always invoked when it comes to defending its penchant for Anti-Arab sadism.

The intention was to create such terrible conditions in Gaza that the Gazans would repudiate Hamas. That the blockade (largely of things that people in normal countries can find in any supermarket) is merely meant to block the import of weapons is a typical Netanyahu lie that you thoughtlessly take over.

You claimed earlier that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza should inspire the Palestinians with confidence about the Israel capacity for withdrawal. Confidence in what exactly? The Gaza withdrawal had nothing to do with the acknowledgment of Palestinian rights but everything with the desire to put the peace process on ice and to mislead the world about Israel’s intentions (see the Weisglass’ testimony quoted earlier). Could one have expected anything else from Sharon? Did he ever show any respect for Palestinian rights?

If you meant confidence in Israel’s logistic capacity, the Gaza withdrawal was of course a pygmy exercise compared to the evacuation of half a million settlers among whom there are dangerous lunatics.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Yehuda

Undoubtedly the world considers the blockade collective punishment. But intention matters, and it is not true that it’s Netanyahus excuse. Hamas took over in 2007 and the blockade by both Egypt and Israel began then, under Olmert’s government. It was done for security reasons.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip
If you’re getting tired, maybe we have gone as far as we can go on this.
See you in another post

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Arie Brand

“Concerning the restrictions on goods reaching Gaza via the land crossings the Palmer report stated that they were “a significant cause” of Gaza’s unsustainable and unacceptable humanitarian situation.[13][14][15] A Fact-Finding Mission for the UN Human Rights Council (2009) chaired by Richard Goldstone, a former judge of the International Criminal Court, as well as a group of five independent U.N. rights experts concluded that the blockade constituted collective punishment of the population of Gaza and was therefore unlawful.[16][17][18] UN envoy Desmond Tutu, United Nations Human Rights Council head Navi Pillay, the International Committee of the Red Cross and most experts on international law[19][20] consider the blockade illegal.[21][22][23][24][25]”
from wikipedia

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Dan Silagi

According to the Times of Israel, there are over 1,000 Israelis demonstrating on behalf of this killer, including the former bar bouncer Liberman. This breaks my heart; I almost made aliyah in 1968, and would have except I still had an obligation to the US military.

Lt. William Calley had his supporters, too.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Ian Berman

Richard,

Thank you for a thorough and excellent article. I have a question about a quote.

“his commanding officer apparently approved the killing.”

What is your source for this information? I have not been able to confirm this essential fact. Here is the entire paragraph.

“The IDF, as a result of the bad publicity, arrested the soldier. Lt Col Peter Lerner confirmed that the soldier killed the Palestinian, and that his commanding officer apparently approved the killing. However, there is no word that the commanding officer himself has been arrested or detained.”

I saw video evidence that merely supports the claim, but it does not prove that the medic consulted with his commander – we don’t know from the video who the medic talked to – and that he received an approval for the action.

I have not been able to find Lerner’s comments on the approval. This is a key point as it changes the story from lone wolf to cover up of IOF policy.

@ Ian Berman: I said “apparently approved.” The basis for this is that his commanding officer was in direct proximity to Azarya the entire time of the incident. He was standing next to the victim on the phone as Azarya killed him. After the killing, the CO does nothing to indicate disapproval. Also, Israeli subordinates simply do not kill people without the approval of their commanders. That’s not the way the IDF works. I’m guessing they didn’t know they were being filmed & thought they could get away with it as scores of IDF & Border Police have in the past.

I have also consulted a usual Israeli security source on this & he refused comment. I have enough experience with this source to understand the implied message, that any comment he could make would implicate the commander & line of command and he preferred not to do that.

Further, if his CO was present at the scene and a soldier under his command violated fire regulations in his presence, then he shouldn’t be a commander.

Lerner’s tweet confirms that Azarya killed the victim and confirms his commander was on the scene when it happens. I thought I linked to his tweet. If not, I can probably find it if necessary. But you can too.

I have tried very hard to find out the name of the company commander who was on the scene. I only know the names of his battalion & division commanders.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

Ian Berman

Richard, in the midst of a powerful review, I believe you have a major flaw. I agree with the overall analysis that summary execution is likely to be unwritten IOF policy and that “confirming the kill” with implied command approval is what happened here, but how you characterized the words of an Israeli spokesman is unsubstantiated and therefore misleading on a crucial point.

You wrote “Lt Col Peter Lerner confirmed that the soldier killed the Palestinian, and that his commanding officer apparently approved the killing” which can only mean that Lerner confirmed (first half of the conjunctive removed)…. that his commanding officer apparently approved the killing.

There is no other way to read this sentence.

Further, your statement thereafter “however, there is no word that the commanding officer himself has been arrested or detained” implies that the Lerner confirmed the Israeli knowledge of the commanding officer approval, but still, Israel did not charge the commanding officer.

If you meant that it is only inferred that the “commanding officer apparently approved the killing” it should have not been part of the same sentence with Lerner’s name in it. That Lerner confirmed his commanding officer was on the scene does not provide any evidence that Lerner confirmed the commanding officer gave the approval or that Lerner stated “that his commanding officer apparently approved the killing.”

So unless you have some direct tie between Lerner and the apparent approval, you should correct the statement.

Having cited your work, both as a whole, but more importantly with regard to the implication of Israeli acknowledgement of the commanding officer approval, I am quite embarrassed by this mistake.

@ Ian Berman: People like you annoy the shit out of me. So stop wasting my time talking about subjunctives and inferences.

I already made clear to you that I based my conclusion the killer’s CO approved his killing based on far more evidence than a statement from Peter Lerner. I’m not going to repeat that evidence again. Peter Lerner’s role in confirming the commanding officer’s role was nowhere near as significant as the fact that his CO stood feet away from him as he fired. That his CO was in the killer’ sight at all times. That CO’s in the IDF do not permit medic’s to kill people as a rule unless they approve it. That the CO did not object after the killing.

You don’t know anything about how the IDF works. Nor do you know how to read the evidence I offered you earlier. Instead, you want to know how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

PS As I have stated before, you do good work in your writing and your responses to comments. So the result of this exchange is not without regret.

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

SG

1) The shot was murder. 2) It does not follow that every time that Palestinians are killed by the IDF are killed illegally. 3) The murderer briefly confers with someone (no evidence that it was a senior officer) before cocking his gun and shooting the victims. 4) The ambulance should have treated both Palestinian wounded, and their role in leaving these men to their deaths should not be discounted. 5) We cannot draw any inferences as to the behaviour of the commander. Of course he does not reprimand his man for murder in a live combat zone. He was facing away from the victim, and does not appear to anticipate the shot. His first assumption would have been that there was a valid reason for shooting. , His subsequent instinct and training is to present a united front in the field, but he does exchange words with the soldier. Remember Hebron is full of people who would like more dead Israeli soldiers. This is where Richard has veered into conspiracy theory. There’s some hard truths for both sides. The Commanding Officer of the Kfir brigade shot just a fleeing 17 year old in the back after the latter had slung a breeze block through his windscreen (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/13/video-raises-doubts-over-account-of-israeli-officer-who-killed-palestinian-teenager) – in my opinion around 2 – 3 seconds too late to not be considered manslaughter. The girls gesticulating with scissors were not posing a threat when they were shot. This wasn’t one soldier – this was a whole society gone sick, gone mad, demonstrating and waving banners angrily promoting sickness. The only thing the chain of command regret is the camera. We talk about exterminating the cancer, the only Arab is a good Arab, and of course some young kid with a gun won’t realise it was all bravado. We cannot continue… Read more »

@ SG: Hey it’s the new hasbara recruit to replace whoever was last moderated or banned. Got his ticket at Ben Gurion and took off into the printine blue & white skies only to land here per his assignment from Hasbara Central. It does not follow that every time that Palestinians are killed by the IDF are killed illegally. I have not said that. Do not put words into my mouth which I never uttered. And take this warning very seriously. Be precise & careful & do not create straw men here. That being said, even Israel admits that roughly 1/4 of Palestinians killed were entirely innocent civilians who were not attacking anyone. So all of those (roughly 40) deaths are murder or at least negligent homicide. Further, many, many incidents in which a Palestinian has attempted to attack someone, end with the attacker incapacitated and then murdered after the fact. I’ve documented numerous accounts here of this and other credible sites have done so. There is also video documenting some of these murders. But none of the police of soldiers who murdered these Palestinians has been charged. If you know anything about the IDF, soldiers don’t kill people without receiving orders or permission to do so. Soldiers don’t, in the very presence of their CO, kill incapacitated Palestinians. It simply doesn’t happen. But even if it did happen in this case, the CO should be removed of his command for permitting it to happen and not doing anything immediately afterward to show objection or displeasure. I’ll bet it wasn’t till they discovered that they’d been videotaped that they realized they had a problem on their hands. That’s when they went into preservation mode and realized they’d have to sacrifice Azarya. As for the ambulance, the manager of the team… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down Reply

2 years ago

SG

Richard, RESPONSES IN CAPS (I AM NOT SHOUTING) @ SG: Hey it’s the new hasbara recruit to replace whoever was last moderated or banned. Got his ticket at Ben Gurion and took off into the printine blue & white skies only to land here per his assignment from Hasbara Central. It does not follow that every time that Palestinians are killed by the IDF are killed illegally. “I have not said that. Do not put words into my mouth which I never uttered. And take this warning very seriously. Be precise & careful & do not create straw men here.” I NEVER SAID THAT YOU SAID THAT. I WOULD REFER YOU TO YOUR OWN ADVICE. I DON’T PARTICULARLY CARE IF YOU BAN ME FROM YOUR WEBSITE. IT JUST STRIKES ME AS TOTALITARIAN AND CONTROLLING IF YOU DO SO. ON THE SUBJECT OF BEING PRECISE, I WONDER WHAT YOU MEAN BY “HASBARA CENTRAL” – IF THE IMPLICATION IS THAT I AM BEING EMPLOYED BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT, THEN YOU ARE BEING CONSPIRATORIALLY ANTISEMITIC, WHICH IS OFTEN A CODED TERM REFERRED TO BY THIS DOGWHISTLE “HASBARA”. ” even Israel admits that roughly 1/4 of Palestinians killed were entirely innocent civilians who were not attacking anyone. ” AGREED. READ WHAT I WROTE BEFORE YOU GO APE. BUT THE VERY FACT THAT ISRAEL MAKES SUCH AN ADMISSION MITIGATES AGAINST YOUR CENTRAL CONTENTION THAT ISRAEL IS A TOTALITARIAN STATE. Have you done anything to express publicly to MDA or MKs your opposition to this? READ WHAT I WROTE. IF THAT ISN’T A PUBLIC OPPOSITION I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS. I AM NON RESIDENT SO I DON’T GET A VOTE BUT IF I DID I CERTAINLY WOULDN’T VOTE FOR NETANYAHU OR THE OTHER RACISTS. And comparing the IDF record to other Arab armies is a nifty… Read more »

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

disable

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.